When times are bad, morality is often thrown out the window. And thank God for that.
Right now, times are bad in the State of California. The government is in the midst of a full-scale fiscal crisis thanks to the widespread Ponzi scheme to provide homes to everyone with a pulse, whether they’re strawberry pickers or strippers.
Since the sub-prime mortgage pyramid collapsed, hundreds of thousands of Californians, who had no business owning homes in the first place, have either been forced out or have simply walked away from their over-priced American Dreams.
Billions of dollars in property tax revenues subsequently vaporized along with the poor schmucks who were swindled into buying half-million dollar suburban McMansions.
With no one left to buy new homes, the state’s home-building industrial complex has also collapsed sending millions of Golden State taxpayers into the unemployment lines. At 12.6 percent, California has the third-highest unemployment rate in the nation ahead of only Michigan (14.0) and neighboring Nevada (13.7).
With a dramatic drop in tax revenue, California’s budget deficit is expected to balloon to $19 billion by the end of this fiscal year.
Because the state is in such a deep hole, morality has become an easy target for termination by Arnold and the hacks in Sacramento. This week the state legislature introduced a bill which would legalize online poker for Californians. Hallelujah!
Tabled by Senator Rod Wright, the bill would “award up to three five-year contracts to California-based operators to run online poker websites for state residents,” according to a report in Egaming Review Magazine.
After years of rejecting the most lucrative business on the Internet because Uncle Sam thinks it’s bad for us kids, the government is now desperate for a new source of tax revenue. Online gambling suddenly doesn’t look so evil anymore.
If California does the right thing and allows online poker, it certainly will make things a little more convenient for some of the state’s poker players, and in the long run, it should provide a decent source of revenue for the state.
However, Arnold and the gang should be careful not to expect a cash windfall right away. After all, California’s online poker players already have plenty of well-established, trustworthy places to play.
Most of the big-name offshore poker rooms have excellent customer service, top-notch software, lots of players, tournaments, and bonuses. They’ve been in the business for upwards of 10 years, and through trial and error, they’ve learned what works and what doesn’t work.
California will have a lot of catching up to do, unless of course, it’s smart and partners up with some of the established online poker sites.
But I wouldn’t bet on that happening, especially since politicians seem to believe the online gambling business is run by a bunch of evil, money-laundering crooks and terrorists. At least, that’s what they’ve told voters for the more than 10 years.
Regardless, California’s poker bill is a good move during what are clearly bad times in the Golden State.
Another good move California will be considering in the fall will be the legalization of pot. The state will vote on the issue in November.
Like online poker, we can only hope that the state’s old-fashioned morality towards a soft, medically-beneficial drug like marijuana will go up in smoke.
